Three Wisemen From The East.
This is not a biblical tale. Rather it is the story about my new found three brothers in this year of dramatic change.
It’s December, 2020, as I write this article from my home in Tbilisi, Georgia. For everyone around the world it has been a strange year filled with change. Mostly grief and disbelief of loss of freedoms and dreams. Plans ruined by pandemic lockdowns and illness all around. For me the year started out with a new job commuting to Vilnius, Lithuania, at a prestigious flight academy. However, things broke bad when the pandemic struck. In the middle of March, my students were recalled to their base in their home country by their program manager in the middle of my lecture. I also abandoned station to evacuate home to my family in Georgia. Unfortunately, I was a couple of hours late transferring through Istanbul when the Georgian border closed to foreigners. I hold a US passport, so despite having an exception from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because I have a Georgian spouse, the border guards in Turkey denied my boarding the last commercial flight to Georgia. This despite intervention by the Georgian consulate in Istanbul. Confusion was everywhere and I was advised to repatriate to the USA on one of the last commercial flights out before the airport shutdown completely.
That was the bad news. The good news was that I maintain a vacation home in New Jersey and my parents live nearby. I was in comfortable surroundings and was supported by my family, despite being separated geographically from my Georgian wife and infant daughter. While I was in the USA, a fairly new acquaintance from Georgia, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to helping him to place a piece of artwork he helped create at Kennedy airport in New York. It’s a life size sculpture of a human form called Free Citizen. Dr. Arsen also told me that he holds the title of the Ambassador of Happiness. Who is this man besides the medical doctor as I knew him? It’s the cognitive visual artist, Arsen Gvenetadze, perhaps more well known in Tbilisi. At least so far! Dr. Arsen knew that I am a commercial pilot and once stationed at Kennedy airport. He also had new from my wife in Tbilisi that I had been forced back to the USA, so I was a good candidate to help with his mission. He proposed to give me the sculpture, and I should give it to the officials at Kennedy airport for permanently public display as soon as I could arrange it. I liked Dr. Arsen from our occasional consultations we had at his clinic, so I agreed. This helped reinforce our new friendship outside of the office. Since then we discuss art and his project daily by internet. Since my return to Tbilisi, we also enjoy weekly visits to play pétanque in the park, have coffee, or just an in person chat. There often a new development with the Free Citizen popularization efforts and I primarily produce all the correspondence letters for outreach to foreign Embassies, Universities, airports, and museums.
Since I am also Tbilisi Ambassador for InterNations and organize monthly social events for our members, I suggested that when I return that the sculpture could be featured at our next event. Eventually, I was able to return to Tbilisi, Georgia, on a special flight, despite the Georgian border still being closed. By this time it was already summer. We held our August InterNations event at the Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace and more than fifty members joined us for the evening on the terrace. Dr. Arsen arrived to our spot in his new white Porsche Taycan, with the Free Citizen sculpture loaded inside. It was a magnificent entrance because it was all visible from the ground floor terrace where we gathered. Dressed in his fashionable Georgian national costume of black tunic with mock rifle cartridges from the past, high black boots, finished with a leather belt and dress knife. The finishing and always present black mustache completes the historical look of the Georgian nobles. Out of the car came Free Citizen with the help of some muscled men at the party and it was escorted to the center of our activities. Following the introduction and ceremony with our guests, I was chatting with Dr. Arsen and somehow he mentioned that he had two brothers. He told me that he had no biological brothers, but was blessed with knowing two other men that share a close friendship with. Both were also professors and medical doctors in the same specialty. However, neither are local as one lives in Israel while the other lives in Dubai. So, I said to Dr. Arsen, “You don’t have only two brothers far away, but one nearby…me!” He was delighted to hear this and next day introduced me by internet chat to the other two brothers. To my delight, both Dr. Bashiri in Israel and Dr. Jasim in Dubai called me and welcomed me into their family as a new brother.
Since that time and to this day, we stay in touch with personal chats by voice mail and sometimes video chat weekly. There is always an invitation to join them in their home country for a visit. As soon as the Georgian border reopens and travel becomes more convenient once again, no doubt there will be a visit with all four of us brothers, somewhere, in person. These new relationships are really something nice to have now and also something to look forward to at the end of this pandemic. Since I am from New York in the west and my three new brother are from the east, it’s a perfect tale to tell this Christmas time and a wonderful gift to receive three wise men.
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